Product Details
The footprint of the ML-1660 is only 43x35cm when you take into account the extended input paper tray at the front and the power plug at the back. It’s a very easy printer to set up. The toner cartridge is already installed in the printer, so all you have to do is peel the plastic from the panels, plug in the power and USB cables, install the software, extend the paper trays and add some A4 paper. You can be up and running in five minutes.
Paper is fed through the printer from the front and its path curls it up so that the output emerges face down at the top of the unit. The input paper tray at the front will hold 150 sheets, and the output will take up to 100 sheets before it starts to overflow. It’s not a printer that can be used for high volumes of printing (its duty cycle is 5000 pages per month) so its paper handling capacity should be adequate if all you want to do is print out uni assignments at home (as long as you don't need colour, of course) or invoices for your clients in your office. It’s not an ideal printer for a legal office or a publishing house, for example.
The print resolution is 1200x600 dots per inch, so it won’t do a good job of printing out images and shades, but it’s decent for text. Its output is perfectly acceptable for printing out reports with black text on a white background. Black text on shaded backgrounds will look a little too jagged, especially if it’s small text, but it’s still readable. Reversed white text on black looks crisp, however, even if the size is 6pt.
Graphs with lots of text and shading can be hard to read when printed on the ML-1660, and curved or diagonal lines tend to look too feathered. But in saying that, the output is fine if all you want to do is proof a presentation while on the way to work, for example. You won’t want to use it for professional presentations though.
The speed of the ML-1660 is more than adequate for home and small office use. Our 20-page test document, which includes text of various sizes, line graphs, photos and test patterns, came out of the printer at approximately 14 pages per minute. The first page out took 29sec when started from sleep mode, and 14sec when the printer was already awake. Full page photos, as well as prints using the One Touch button, completed in just 14sec, too. The first page out time and ensuing page rate is slightly slower than printers in the class above the ML-1660, such as the HP LaserJet Pro m1212nf and Dell 1133, which are both monochrome lasers with scanning capabilities.
Only one consumable is required for the ML-1660, and that’s the MLT-D104s toner cartridge and drum unit. It can be purchased online from around $69 if you shop around (although its official retail price is $99) and it has a stated page yield of 1500. That translates to a cost per page of roughly 4.6 cents per page, or 6.6c if you pay the official retail price.
The idle power consumption of the ML-1660 was 2 Watts in sleep mode.
The print quality of the ML-1660 is commensurate with its price. You do get what you pay for, and what you get in the ML-1660 is a basic text printer for a minimal initial outlay that will print pages faster than an inkjet printer, such as Canon’s PIXMA MX870, which prints text at around 6 pages per minute.
Product Specifications
Paper handling
Supported media sizes: A4
Supported media types: Plain paper
Total media capacity (sheets): 150
Printer features
Printer type: Laser
Printer usage: Home, Small / home office
Number of ink/toner cartridges: 1
Cost per A4 page (b&w): 4.6c
Stated print speed (b&w): 16
Maximum print resolution: 1200x1200
Automatic duplex (doublesided printing): No
Manual duplexing (doublesided printing): Yes
Duty cycle (pages per month): 5000
Size and weight
Weight: 4.2kg
Height: 184mm
Width: 341mm
Depth: 224mm
